Schedule

Course Schedule

*Please note that the following schedule is approximate; dates and topics may shift as the semester continues. Please check back often and on the homepage for current information regarding your assignment due dates.

UNIT 1: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

*Classes begin (Aug. 22): Go over D2L, the course syllabus (on D2L), and the class WordPress Blog. Create a WordPress Blog for daily writing in class.

Homework: 1. Read “Why Blog? Searching for Writing on the Web.” 2. (First blog post) Answer: According to Alex Reid, what are the benefits of doing an online blog for a writing class? What are your feelings about keeping a blog, good and bad? 3. Send a professional email to your professor with your blog URL in the body of it. For example, the class blog URL is www.wrt101s2f2019.home.blog. 

Week 1 (Aug. 27, 28, 29): Create a professional student biography and post in the “About Me” section of your WordPress Blog. Introduction to rhetoric, writing professional emails, summary, annotation, how to write a sentence. Grammar: fragments and run ons. Homework: Read and summarize a news article/editorial. 

Week 2 (Sept. 3, 4, 5): Introduction to the rhetorical situation: message, author/publisher, and audience. Rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, pathos). Go over news/media, clickbait, bias, and “fake news.” Identifying your own biases and values. Talking to different audiences, “How to have better political conversations.” Quiz 1. Essay 1 Prompt. Homework: Read and annotate “Misinformation and biases infect social media, both intentionally and accidentally” – The Conversation.

*Sept. 5 is Drop/Refund/Audit deadline

Week 3 (Sept. 10, 11, 12): Rhetorical analysis. Rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, pathos) cont. Emotionally loaded language. News activity. Read from S. I. Hayakawa’s book Language in Thought and Action: Connotations and Slanting and How Words Mean. Common grammar errors. Homework: Find and annotate on your piece for Essay 1.

Week 4 (Sept. 17, 18, 19): Writing a paragraph. Writing an essay/the rhetorical analysis essay. MLA format. Editing marks. Drafting: Essay 1 Draft 1 due Thursday, Sept. 19. 

Week 5 (Sept. 24, 25, 26): Peer feedback. Drafting: Essay 1 Draft 2 due Thursday, Sept. 26. 

Week 6 (Oct. 1, 2, 3): Final draft of Essay 1 due Thursday, Oct. 3.

UNIT 2: NARRATIVE ARGUMENT

Week 7 (Oct. 8, 9, 10): What is important to you? Why? Finding stories. What is your experience of the world? How to tell stories. Basic story structure. How to evoke pathos – with description. Outline due Thursday, Oct. 10 by the end of class. Homework: Read and annotate Malcolm X’s “A Homemade Education.”

Week 8 (Oct. 15, 16, 17): Peer review/conclusion. Narrative argument. Why is it important to you or who you are today? Draft 1 due Thursday, Oct. 17 by the end of class. Homework: Read Sherwin Alexie’s “Superman and Me.”

Week 9 (Oct. 22, 23, 24): Draft 2 due Thursday, Oct. 24 by the beginning of class (Peer Review).

Week 10 (Oct. 29, 30, 31): Final draft due Thursday, Oct. 31 by the beginning of class. Introduction to Essay 3 Prompt.

UNIT 3: RESEARCHED ARGUMENT

Week 11 (Nov. 5, 6, 7): Introduction to researched argument. Pick three argument topics to research.

*Nov. 8 is Withdrawal deadline

Week 12 (Nov. 12, 13, 14): Researched argument paper – structure. Avoiding plagiarism. Avoiding logical fallacies.

Week 13 (Nov. 19, 20, 21): “Understanding Your Audience” activity (sympathetic, neutral, and hostile audiences). Draft 1 due Thursday, Nov. 21. 

Week 14 (Nov. 26, 27): Peer feedback. Draft 2 due Wednesday, November 27. 

*College closed for Thanksgiving Nov. 28-Dec. 1

Week 15 (Dec. 3, 4, 5): Presenting your argument. 

Week 16 (Dec. 10, 11, 12): Final Draft Essay 3 due Tuesday, Dec. 10. Final presentations due.